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ModiFace, a leading provider of virtual makeover technologies, has recently launched ShadeCast, the first beauty industry forecasting tool based, in part, on anonymous tracking of consumer behavior on MakeUp, the world’s most popular iPhone virtual makeover tool. The information gathered will help the $2.5 billion industry predict trends and help manufacturers better understand the colors and products favored by online and iPhone virtual makeover tool users.

Historically, fashion and beauty trends have been dictated by celebrities and red carpet appearances. Now, technology is playing a large role in understanding the immediate drivers and forecasters of makeup trends. With over 1,000 different shades from more than 40 cosmetic brands, ShadeCast provides a ShadeScore to appropriately position the hottest and most sampled color from the iPhone app. Users are also able to identify the closest color match for each shade across a wide variety of brands with ShadeMatch.

“The popularity of hot new trends in makeup is unpredictable and constantly evolving,” said Nikkie Gatto, resident beauty expert and mobile project manager at ModiFace. “Traditionally radio playlists have driven the business of music, and we believe that leveraging ShadeCast will not only benefit consumers looking to capture the current look, but also provide vital market intelligence to our retail channel partners. Because ShadeCast tracks a variety of data sources including data from 200,000 iPhones currently running the MakeUp application, this is a great indicator of what products will become popular for the upcoming season, since virtually ‘trying-on’ precedes buying.”

“The best thing about ShadeCast is that we are making available for publishers, consumers and brand managers, internal statistics about the popularity of individual shades as they are being tried-on by our iPhone and Web users. This is the first time that such a service, where you can track in realtime the popularity of each individual shade or brand, is being made available to the public,” said Dr. Parham Aarabi, CEO and founder of ModiFace.

Originally launched in November of 2009, MakeUp is a free iPhone beauty tool that allows users to virtually try on different types of makeup, including mascara, foundation, blush and eye shadow, in hundreds of shades from leading brand names like Revlon, Cover Girl, Lancôme and Clinique. On MakeUp version 7, users can now use their own Facebook, iPhone album, or iPhone camera photo to test out the most popular cosmetic looks on themselves.

The application is available for download from the U.S. iTunes store. MakeUp is also available for download in nearly 50 other countries including U.K., Britain, Australia, France, Germany, Canada, Japan, and Italy. Since the launch of the first MakeUp app, it has been downloaded by over 200,000 users. For more information on MakeUp or ModiFace’s other virtual makeover tools, visit modiface.com.